“Colorado Experience,” in the manner of “American Experience” on PBS, is intended to remind viewers of often forgotten history.

Scanning vintage photos a la Ken Burns, but without the big-name actors reading letters from the era, the series aims to bring the state’s past to life. A co-production of Rocky Mountain PBS and History Colorado, “Colorado Experience” bows Thursday at 7 p.m. on RMPBS with a first season of 13 half-hour episodes.

No re-enactments, thank goodness. No over-riding nostalgia. Just well researched and documented moments, conflicts, personalities and areas that helped define the state, along with eyewitness interviews where possible. State historian Bill Convery appears in every episode, offering perspective. The Denver Public Library served as a supportive partner.

Executive producer Julie Speer said her goal is “to build a multi-year strategy for funding the show.” While state film incentives helped get it off the ground, the project will not be eligible for film incentives again next year. “We have eight months to get it lined up. Our brainstorming list for season 2 is 100 items long.” (Speer, a fourth-generation Coloradan, has a famous local name. “I did get out of a parking ticket one time, but I can’t trace direct lineage” to Mayor Robert W. Speer.)

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.